>> _Why_ can't a registrar be expected to screen potential or actual>> spammers?

> Because they have no control.

No. You're right, but the reason is wrong. They CAN de-register
spamming domains, and some do (GoDaddy is one of them; reports vary as
to how quick/consistent they are about it)

The real reason is that domain names are something you typically sign
up for online with no interaction with a human. That makes any decent
amount of screening quite difficult, if not impossible.

> Note that anyone with an internet connection can be their own host. In> that case they need an ISP to connect through. Then you might ask how> can ISPs screen people. Well, they can't. How would they determine> what you plan on doing? They can enforce the service agreement and> terminate you, but only if you do something bad.

There are a couple things that can be done beforehand like checking
spam blacklists, but that's about it, and at that point you'd need to
be very careful to use a BL that doesn't have false positives.

> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: But landlords can (or not, as they> wish) choose to rent an apartment to someone. If they get bad vibes> about it, prior to rental, then they just don't rent.

The landlord is also talking to the prospective tenant in person
before they rent. Do you think something similar happens with domain
name registrations?

JustThe.net - Steve Sobol / sjsobol@JustThe.net / PGP: 0xE3AE35ED
Coming to you from Southern California's High Desert, where the
temperatures are as high as the gas prices! / 888.480.4NET (4638)

"Life's like an hourglass glued to the table" --Anna Nalick, "Breathe"

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Of course not, the registrars are too
greedy to do anything but an automated sign up process. Terra World
(our local ISP) said that by requiring prospective users (and he
gets them from all over, not just s.e. Kansas) to actually _speak_ on
the phone and letting _them_ know that _he_ knows what they are about,
spam going out of that network is zilch, or nearly so. He has a couple
of high school/college age guys who work the 'help desk' there on
nights and weekends. All smart kids, he gives them a print out of
new subscribers each day. The kids know what to look for, of course,
and tell Duane the next day if they see something askance. A spammer
who is exposed to daylight seldom continues doing it for very long.
Of course that may be why he does not get that many new customers; he
won't tolerate that spamming/scamming the way MCI does. When I worked
his help desk for a short time after my brain aneurysm I knew what to
look for also with new customers. But he still has a very successful
small ISP business. PAT]